Welcomeboard, Welcome to another Space City Saturday on Sports Talk seven ninety Dan Matthews
Live and local h Town breakdown of the world that matters to you, the
Houston sports world. All these great Houston fans here. We love y'all.
So finish up on that to do list. Slute up the cooler, because
you can't drink in talk sports all day if you don't start. Now bear
me the eight. This is Space City Saturday. It's insane. Here's seven
nineties Dan Matthews. Welcome in the Space City Saturday. Dan Matthews here with
you. Away we go as the draft days one and two are done.
As the Texans make three selections yesterday as they go with Kamari Laster out of
Georgia at number forty two, Notre Dame offensive tackle Blake Fisher at number fifty
nine, and Kaylin Bullock there at number seventy eight. So the Texans now
have a defensive back two of them in their fold. Also an offensive tackle
there in Blake Fisher as well. So see what they do a little bit
later on today, and just to kind of get things started here in the
show today, normally you know that we are mostly astros intensive in the first
hour, but let's call it what it is. One team right now seemingly
has the interest of you all, and that is the team that does not
even end season. They are the ones who are building up their roster at
this moment as the Texans, you know, have the draft yesterday, but
also to a strong free agency, the Jersey reveal and now a chance for
them to be able to try to build off the momentum that they had last
season. So you know, that is something that they are trying to do,
and you know, in terms of what they have done so far,
it seemingly is growing rave reviews, although for the most part people were not
very I guess Nick Cassario not too much for the praise of the off season,
which, hey, we talked about it last week. That's up to
him if that's what he wants to do, but that is where most of
the conversation in the first hour is going to go. The Astros, though,
are in Mexico City to face the Rockies four o'clock Astros on deck with
Ross Villa Reale, and we will get into that a little bit later on
as the show goes along, as well. A couple of interviews from this
week. So you know that here on Space City Saturday, the last few
weeks we've had some live guests, some cases haven't even had guests at all,
all of the above everything in between. So in this case right here,
a couple of really good guests. So last night, if you're listening
to us here on Sports Talk seven ninety, it was Brent Rollins, my
good buddy from ugasports dot Com, joining us with me Adam Wexler Stan Norfleet
after the Texans had made their first pick of the night to go with Kamari
Laster, and I felt it was important to get Brent on. Brent.
If you don't know who he is, follow him on Twitter at Brent Rollins
PhD because he legit has a PhD an adjunct professor. I believe that Athens
Community College there in the Athens area, but also too good buddies with David
Pollock coaches with him. But Brent is as bright a football mind as I
know. And if you go over to ugasports dot com, the rival site
there does all their film breakdowns, x's and o's, everything of the sorts,
So I knew immediately who to get in touch with last night when it
comes to drafting a player, because that's the thing too, is that you
can sometimes, you know, get a beat writer for a team that will
know the x's and o's everything of the sort. But a lot of times
too, it's great to go with somebody who you know, you know is
a film person and somebody that can be able to break that down. So
that is why we tab Brent, so bottom of this hour you're gonna hear
from Brent. And also to another reason why we're going majority of Texans here
in the first hour is round four is gonna get going here at the top
of the eleven o'clock hour here locally, so be able to get in all
the Texans conversation there and update you as to what is going on in Detroit
for the draft as the eleven o'clock hour happens. But once that happens,
though, get into a little bit more astros as bottom of next hour or
we are going to have the visit. Part of the visit that we had
with Jeff Blum yesterday on the A team thought he had some really good stuff.
By the way, to take a second here, Happy belated birthday,
Jeff Blum. So Blummer celebrating a nice little birthday down there and see you
Dodd Day, Mexico. So good for him, and now it is up
to the Astros to kind of turn this thing around. I mean, you
know, we've heard all of the things. We've got the players, we
you know, we we've got the team, we've got all of this.
Well, you know, this is kind of soon enough becoming kind of a
bad relationship in terms of we And here's what I mean by this. In
terms of what they've done the last few years. It's been awesome, it's
been amazing. There's there's nothing more that we could ask for out of the
Astros in what they've been able to do so far to this point. But
also though too, I mean, this is where you're kind of getting tired
of hearing your spouse or whoever it is, if you're unhappy and the relationships
say, oh, I'll change, I'll get better, I'll be who I
used to be, all all of those things, and you know, soon
enough you reach a point where you've just had it and it doesn't matter what
words are being said, all of those different things. I think it's kind
of exactly what we talked about the last few weeks of you want to almost
kind of stand in front of the Astros and shake them and say, figure
it out, find a way, get it done. All of those different
things you want to say to them, because the truth of the matter is,
let's call it what it is. I posted the video the other day
where I said the answer is yes to what are the issues with the Astros?
Is it the hitting? Is it the pitching? And I said yes,
but I'm going to amend it. The hitting is wearing the stronger of
the blame game right now, one thousand percent they are. Because you saw
the graphics the other day if you were watching the game on Space City are
a Space City home network and one of them showing runners in scoring position hose
a L two V. I believe it was point zero seven seven. So
you know, of all the things, and this isn't just an now two
a thing. It's just an example with him. But you know, oh,
look at his numbers. Oh he's hitting three fifty a lot of week
contact. You know, so many home runs, all solos, and you
know all these RBIs again solo home runs. And also to the two runs
that he knocked in against the Rangers where the only ones that he's had with
runners in the scoring position this year, Jordan Alvarez has continued to struggle and
so much to the point where finally they moved him. So we you know,
we now you know, have seen the lineup switch a little bit.
But you know it's also two here to a certain point where you know,
these guys we want to hear about the back of the you know what,
We're not going to go all the way through Matt Thomas, but you know
we want to hear about all of that. Well, then soon enough it
has to show up. I mean, like that's the part of it that's
the most frustrating of all of this as well, is hearing you know,
oh, we've got the guys, Oh, we can do all of this.
Well, then soon enough, with a runner on second and third,
how about someone lose a baseball over the wall, or how about someone find
a baseline, hit it down the baseline and a couple runs score. Like
that's what soon enough people want to see in here. They want to stop
hearing about the Oh, we've got the guys in this room. Oh,
you know, we'll figure it out. We'll get it going. We better
figure it out fast, and you better figure it out pretty quickly, because
soon enough, May becomes June, then June becomes July, then July becomes
August, then August becomes September and somewhere in between there. If you don't
have it figured out, it's way too late. And the only saving grace
is that the other teams in the division are not completely running away with this
thing. So maybe that is a little bit of something with the Astros that
you can point to and you can say, all right, you know things
aren't great right now, but they could be a whole lot worse. As
last night the Rangers and the Mariners won. So the Mariners now seven games
in front of the Astros, the Astros all the way in last right now,
three whole games behind the behind the Angels. So you know, we've
wanted to hear about. You know, this is a chance for them to
be able to make up some ground. I mean, you know they're not
playing a tough schedule anymore. Well this not as tough schedule. They're one
in five right now, so it really is kind of to a certain point
where you're allowed to be frustrated. And I think you can hear it from
my voice that you're one hundred percent allowed to be frustrated with the lack of
really production and just you know, lack of energy that this team has shown.
And the manager the other day even talked about it, We've got to
have fire in the middle of the in the middle of the game, and
back to the hitters portion of it all. And I know that I mentioned
a couple of names, but I mean, you know, I'm seeing people
after the game the other day say, oh, of course it's Montero and
a bray You again, guys the bullpen all season long. Yes, have
they lost some leads and have they not come through in certain situations, Sure,
but it's not as much as the other one. It is not the
other part of this relationship. And honestly, it's also too you know,
people get tired of hearing terms like complimentary football, complimentary baseball, and there
is that in sports. You do have to have it, but they're also
too at times where you have to have the pitching say hey, I guess
it's on us. We gotta win this one. Just like in football,
if the offense isn't on that day, then the defense has to be the
ones to stand up and they have to be the ones to be able to
help you win that ball game. And the same deal goes in baseball as
well, is maybe some days you're gonna facing a really good pitcher or your
hitters just aren't feeling it and you're able to only muster a runner two.
Then they you know, pitching staff has to try to be able to hold
onto that. But the problem is the pitching staff has been able to has
been trying to hold onto leads for a very long time. And I mean,
you're doing a flying with Linda flying will Linda act here, and I
hate to tell you not all the flying wine does have gotten all the way
to the other side on the high wire there. So you get my point
here that you can't keep putting your pictures in these situations where you know you
only give them a one run lead, or you know you've only scored two
runs in the game. I mean, you know last weekend a case in
point with them against the Nationals is oh, well, you know Ryan Presley
should close out that game. Granted he should, but I agree with what
Gordy had said in the tenth inning on the tenth Inning Show on Sunday,
how many chances did they have to be able to add on in those games,
and that's something that the Astros had done so well in the past,
and that it's just just mind boggling frustrating with this team that they just cannot
find a way to be able to add on. Like it's almost kind of
to a point where a mental governor comes on in their brain of all right,
that's enough runs, Like it used to not be the case. It
used to be. Hey, they had a two run lead, Well we
could use some insurance, pal, how about a four five run inning right
there? All right, that's very nice, Like I'm not asking for all
of that, but I am asking for you to be able to exactly as
Joe A. Spot has said the other day, have a little fire,
have a little juice, and have a little you know, at least at
least some urgency in terms of, hey, if we keep losing like this,
then this is over. And here's the last part of it. Stop
getting swept Like, honestly to the point like how many times do you have
to get punched in the face for you to finally wake up and say,
hey, this sucks, this is not fun, this is not enjoyable.
To come to the park every day and have us not win ball games.
Like I understand, there's so much more that goes into it that you're trying
to win ball games. But at the same time though too as well,
like you know, we want to hear about the back of the you know
what, and we want to hear about, oh, we've got the guys
in the clubhouse. Hey, guess what. Soon enough you have to show
it for us to continue to believe in you. And that's the frustration that
Astros fans have. If you go to Astros Twitter right now, they post
anything you see exactly what the mentions are from people right now. So hopefully
the day off yesterday has helped hopefully them in Mexico City. I mean,
let's call it what it is. We've said all of these things so far
at this point in the season, and as you can tell, it is
kind of frustrating to continue to be a broken record here. So guess who
can help that The guys who are taking the field a little bit later today
in Mexico City and go out there. You're facing a team that just had
a nice win and come from behind fashion against the San Diego Padres. The
other day in the Colorado Rockies, so it's not necessarily just a pushover for
them. But at the same time though too, I mean, you know,
you hear about how good this ball club is. Oh, we've got
great players in here, all right, Well, then go out there and
show it. So Renelle Blanco again, hopefully he is the magic elixir for
them as he has been for much of this season. Two and zero with
a one three three era Cal Quantrill, the former Cleveland Guardian to go for
the Colorado Rockies zero to two with a four, three to three e r
A. Again that one coming your way a little bit later on Ross Hill
Real can to have the Astros on deck for you coming up at four o'clock,
so we'll get back into the Texans conversation coming up next. As the
Texans last night making their selections and a member of the Texans brass said something
last night that tells me all I need to know about the direction of this
team. We'll discuss that as we continue along here Space City Saturday on your
home with the Astros and the Rockets. Sports Talk seven ninety. Space City
Saturday continues by Sports Talk seven ninety with the forty second pick in the twenty
twenty four NFL Draft, the Houston Texans select Kamari Last defensive back Georgia with
the fifty ninety pick. In the twenty twenty four NFL Draft, the Houston
Texans select Blake Fisher tackle Notre Dame with the seventy eight pick. In the
twenty twenty four NFL Draft, the Houston Texans select Kaylan Bullet, defensive back
USC. So there you go, hearing it all from Christian Harris, and
I believe is her name, Gail Aponte with the NFL calling the second and
third round picks as the Texans make three selections last night, I'll get into
a little bit of a breakdown too. I mean, obviously with Kamari Lasster
know a little bit more about him than I knew about Blake Fisher and even
Kaylin Bullock as well. But with Lassiter a lot of things too. And
we'll actually give you a scouting report on Kamari Laster here coming up in about
ten minutes. As we had a chance last night on the Draft Show,
myself, Adam Wexler and Stan Norfleet to catch up with Brent Rollins of ugasports
dot Com, So we will play that for you here coming up in about
ten minutes, but the Texans going with two defensive backs and an offensive tackle.
And last night after the draft, Nick Casario meeting with the media.
As you know, I gotta tell you, I think you know a couple
of things here from Casarrio before we hear from him. One of them is,
I mean, just watching and listening to his post draft draft availability there
with the media. Number one, it looked like that sleep had been optional
for Nick, and he sounded like it too that I mean, it had
been a long day for him. So I'm assuming probably as soon as he
got finished with that, maybe a quick rap meeting and then saying, all
right, let's go home get some sleep. Who knows, he might even
be a sleep on the couch and his office type of guy at times,
and maybe that is what the order of the day calls for right now.
But the other part of it, as well, I thought, a little
self effacing it was kind of nice to see out of Nick Cassio's He joked
about he wasn't going to do the seven minute soliloquy intro all of those different
things this time, that he'd get to questions and felt like he was,
you know, pretty pretty fair in terms of the questions that came his ways.
So good stuff from Nick Cassario last night. But one thing he did
talk about, though, really I think if you're a Texans fan has to
fire you up, and that is about roster building and the expectations that are
of the guys. A few weeks ago, had a chance to catch up
with Will Anderson Junior as he and c J. Stroud and Demiko Ryance talked
to the media before the team started their workouts, and he had a line
that made a lot of sense now where he said, we're not for everybody
and they're not for us. And what he's talking about is we've got expectations,
we've got a standard, we have a culture here now that we can't
just let anybody in the building here. And Nick Cassario kind of, you
know, I went even further on that last night and said something that Texans
fans, when you hear this, I think it's going to fire you up.
We don't have a crystal ball, so we're not going to sort of
make any predetermined decisions about a player's role, who fits where. Honestly,
the competition will sort itself out. I think what we've done, what we
hopefully have done is just create a sense urgency, and you have to play
well and perform well in order to stay in this building. And if you
don't, then we have to keep the fifty three best. And then however,
we put the practice wide together. So there you go. I mean,
you know, and I think that a lot of people hear that and
say, oh, well, one on a team in downtown playing at Minute
Made Park, why don't they have the same thing. Well, for the
most part, they have. And that's not where I'm going with this.
But where I'm going with this is that it shows that Nick Cassario has a
strong vision for what he wants this team to be and what he wants to
embody. And I would say that more often than not, we see this
type of relationship in college where you hear about it all the time that the
most successful college football programs have three tiers of leadership that are all in line
with each other. The head coach is in line with the AD, and
the AD is in line with the university president, and they're all on the
same page in terms of all right, hey, this is what makes this
university better. Let's do this, and let's go this direction. We need
to raise money for this facility, all right, let's do that. All
right, we need to raise money for a new weight room, a new
recruiting lounge. Fine, yeah, let's let's do all of that in this
case. Right here, this sounds like it's a symbiotic relationship between Nikosio and
Demiko Ryans in terms of the type of guys they want in this building,
but also too what's expected of them once they get into said building. And
I remember all last year, you know, Demiko Ryans asked about injuries,
asked about guys you know that might have a chance to make the team,
all of it, and his messaging from the beginning of training camp when I
got here towards the end of it. I think I got here before the
final preseason game is when I moved back. But I just remember going to
an availability and somebody asked him. I think it was after Kenyon Green got
hurt. Where you know, what are you guys gonna do? Well?
You know, we've got to have the roster of fifty three and we got
to go. We got to go to work with the guys we got and
you know, we've got to be able to you know, put guys on
the field with the expectation that they're gonna make plays, and that is you
know exactly what's expected if you're gonna take the field for this team, coach
by me. And it went even further to later on the season. I
mean, you know, week ten, whenever it was you ask about whenever
you had that rash of injuries of both your edge rushers of Will Anderson Junior
and Jonathan Grenard, as well as c J. Stroud of course, and
Nico Collins. You had a rash of injuries that the team was dealing with.
That's whatevery NFL team has to deal with at a certain point. But
the messaging was the same. Yeah, you had to meek O Ryan seeing
the exact same thing we got. We've got to go to work with the
guy we got. And I mean you just heard Nick Cassario right there what
he just said about. You know, there's an expectation in this building.
You play well, well, chances are you get to stay part of this
fifty three man roster. You don't play well, then you know, chances
are we're going to look somewhere else and you're going to be somewhere else.
And if that's with another NFL team, or if it's out of the league,
that's kind of up to you at that point. But you know,
it's just refreshing to hear things like that. And it's also too, just
refreshing that seemingly there is a strong vision over there at NRG Stadium. I
mean, I think that the last time we probably had something like this was
when it was Gary Kubiak and Rick Smith and Wade Phillips running the defense.
And you know, that's when this team not only had a chance to win
the AFC South, but also too you started to believe that with this roster
that they had a chance to be able to make the AFC Championship team.
And obviously that never happened because the New England Patriots seemingly wanted to always be
there in a divisional round and say, hey, yeah remember us, you
know us, Yeah, you're not going any further. And now the Texans
are trying to solve the riddle that is the Baltimore Ravens the Kansas City Chiefs.
I mean, you know, that was another thing too that I like
to hear last night from Nick Cassio, that kind of it was a pared
down version of what we had talked about last week in terms of just kind
of his combative approach. But I loved hearing it where he had talked about,
you know, yeah, we've made some nice moves, We've done all
of that, but also too, you know, those guys in Kansas City
are still pretty good, those guys in Buffalo are still pretty good. I
mean, just going down the list of the competition in the AFC that they
have to try to overcome. And I appreciate that, and I almost kind
of wonder if you know, somebody in the Texans building kind of got to
him and said, hey, a little less combative, but I think your
messaging is on point. I think that what you're saying is valid, but
maybe expand on that a little bit more. And I appreciated him doing that
last night of Nick Cassio, you know, talking about, you know,
just what the you know, Texans face in terms of trying to be able
to have a strong season, and he said some of those things last week,
but I felt like that was the more measured approach to come to it,
where it's a you know, it's not so combative much of a tone
where I think now it's at least it's explanatory, and you've laid out the
why you're kind of, you know, pumping the brakes in terms of,
you know, believing that this team is ready to take that next step.
Two. Yes, win in the divisional round and get to the AFC Championship
Game and then have a chance to get to the super Bowl and play for
the entire thing. And I appreciate that he was like exactly what he said.
The competition in this conference is pretty strong. So we've gotten most of
those guys on our schedule this year, and if we're going to try to
prove that we belong with those guys, well then we got to beat those
guys. And I thought that was pretty interesting stuff from Nick Cassario. So
good stuff from him right there. And of course you got the draft montage
there at the beginning of the show. A little bit later on in the
show, I will give you a little bit more on what I found out
about these three guys. Again, with the Texans going with Kamari Lassiter as
well as Blake Fisher, and also going with Kaylin Bullock, a safety out
of USC, we had a chance to talk about all of them yesterday.
We also had a chance to talk about one of them with Brent Rollins of
ugasports dot Com. So, as I've mentioned now a couple of times in
the show, we will hear from him next as he joined us on the
Draft Show presented by carbok which, by the way, shout out Carbock Brewing.
I appreciate them dropping off some goodies for us last night, and that
was definitely nice. When you get home, you got a little bit of
draft audio to cut and maybe even some of the things to get ready for
here on Space City Saturday. So my friends at Carbock Brewing, you were
a great companion last night. We'll just say that to be able to kind
of wind down the day a little bit. So I really appreciate them for
doing that and their partnership with us, not only on the Astros with Crawford
Baca, everything of the sort, Crawford box Cast, but also to last
night stepping up helping us out with the draft coverage myself WEX and also seeing
Northfleet. So you'll hear all of us with Brent Rollins coming up next as
we continue along here on Space City Saturday. As I'm Dan Matthews here on
your home are the Astros in the Rockets. Sports Talk seven to ninety It's
Space City Saturday on Sports Talk seven night. As we continue along here on
a windy Saturday, where's all this wind coming from? I mean, as
I do the show right now, looking out the window and you know,
just seeing the trees just you know, whipping back and forth, and you
know, had some of the patio furniture fall over, so I had to
try to fix that. But anyway, try to stay upright if you are
moving out and about today here in these Houston streets. Well, last night
here in Houston, had a chance to dip back into the old streets of
Georgia where I used to be and a guy that got to know really well
because well at Georgia games when I would cover him there from Sanford Stadium,
he was the man directly to my right for every game. So struck up
a friendship over the years with Brent Rolins of ugasports dot Com. As Brent
does the x's and o's for the group that is headed up by Rodding to
Bolsey and the crew over there for the rivals site, he joined us last
night on the draft coverage, which again you just heard car Box say proud
sponsor of Sports Talk seven ninety. They were a proud sponsor up us last
night on the Draft Show, myself Adam Wesler and also Stan Norfleet. So
without any further ado, let's get a Kamari Lasser scouting report from Brent Rolins
ugasports dot com. We take it to Georgia Brent Rollins, who does great
work for rivals analyzing this particular school and others inside the SEC. Brent,
we certainly appreciate your time spending here with our listeners here in Houston and via
the iHeartRadio app wherever they might be. Your initial thoughts on what Kamari Lassiter
the NFL player will be from what you saw at Georgia. I think his
role at Georgia actually might be a little different than his role in the NFL
because at Georgia and he was primarily an outside corner all the time that he
played except for really one game and then he moved into the slide. And
I could see him starting out because of his sort of not as having as
much long speed and the quickness strengths, and I could see him starting out
in the slot in the NFL. But physical player, just an absolute dog
is the corner. Great as a run defender, one of the highest graded
in terms of Pro Football Focus grades, one of the highest graded run defending
corners in the country. Just an absolute had a great sort of junior year
stepping forward to the NFL. Brent, welcome to Houston. Appreciate you joining
us. Stand Northfleet here, and I think about a question that's going to
come up from our audience. Okay, Stam, we know he's a two
time national champion Georgia. How many inceptions take the ball away? Right?
We see what Derek Stingley has done, and he takes the ball away and
we saw what he did. And Ben Rouge coming out of Athens, how
do we explain the lack of quantifiable success in the ball skills standpoint meaning interceptions
in PBUs. You know, that's interesting. It's a great question. I
will say. I think this year he took This past year, he took
a big step up in terms of breaks on the ball. I think he
had five pass breakups but non interceptions this past season. But a lot of
that I think has to do with how Georgia coaches their defensive backs, and
they coach in a way that they're physical but also not necessarily physical to the
point and trying to do things where they get the offense in hand an eventantage
and you know, sort of playing up through the ball, knocking the ball
out versus truly finding the ball. There's a couple of great reps from Lasster.
I think one against Kentucky that I remember specifically, where did a phenomenal
job of actually turning and finding the ball with something that you don't normally see
from Georgia corners. But I think it's as much to do with how they're
taught is anything. But also think with him and that's why I think he
ends up in the slot is arm length and hand size, Like he's just
he's like twenty fifth percentI in terms of arm length, hand size. Great.
So that's a lot of it's a combination of factors, but I think
he's going to be a dog in the slot. And that's like if you
look back and I think, if you're a Texans fan, he wants say,
all right, what game do I want to go watch him? Specifically,
it's the Missouri game this past year for Georgia because that was a game
where Luther Burden early on established himself as like, hey, I'm going to
be a force in this game. And they put Kamari Laster in the slot
in that game and then with a little tweak of a knee or ankle,
but also Laster on him the rest of the game, in essence kind of
faded away and didn't do much of anything the rest of the game. Brent
Rollins again UGA sports dot Com join us here on Sports Talk seven to ninety.
Brent, can he just kind of fill in, you know, the
audience here who doesn't watch Georgia as closely, just exactly what Kirby Smart and
that defensive staff asked for out of their guys in the secondary, as much
as they ask of any player on the team, honestly, because there's a
couple of things with when you get a Georgia defensive back. One is you
got a kid who's used to playing every snap of the game. Georgia has
their five dbs and it's not like, hey, you know, every other
series a different corner comes out. No, they're five guys, the four,
two corners, two safeties, and nickel. They stay on the field.
They're always the sort of leaders in the clubhouse in terms of snaps played
for Georgia's defense, So you got a guy who used to be on the
field the entire game. You got a guy who can play both and man.
When they had like Eric STOs Stokes and Tyson Campbell, who are high
draft picks, they played a lot more man. But over the past couple
of years they've really split the sort of man zone split more towards what you
see in the NFL, and thus you get corners that are equally adept at
playing both man and zone. The other part with I think every Georgia corner,
if you can't play physical, bubble screens, tackling in the run game,
you're just not going to play. And you've seen highly rated recruits transfer
away from Georgia because they just couldn't meet that physical standard that Kirby Smart demands
of his DB's, especially as corners. Well, Brett, while I'm not
expecting the Texans to dip into the Georgia secondary a second time, relatively early
after the first time, but if they do, what would you tell people
here about Javon Bullard their safety versaal I think he's like to me a comp
for him would be Antoine Winningfield junior in terms of a pro comp size,
speed, similar, just aggressiveness absolute, just doesn't care for his body and
will put his body in anywhere in anywhere that is needed, and smart and
I will say he's one that in terms of over his career, had a
little more sort of ball production than you typically see making plays on the ball,
especially in the slot. Now, I think he wasn't as quite,
it wasn't as good this past year. He was really good, but I
think he was even better the previous season in twenty twenty two in the slot.
I think it's more his natural position, but the ability to play both
slot and safety, much like last year, can play both outside corner and
in the slot a bowler gives you that position of versatility of slot and safety
as well. Last one for me, Brent, I think about something sticks
out of my head whenever Demico speaks and he talks about personnel. Character of
the person Personal character is just as important as your football character. What can
you share with us about Kamari Lassid to the individual of the family, what
type of stock does he come from? I think that's one of the things
that for the most part, you can kind of blanket statement that to anybody
that comes from Georgie's program because it's one of the things that they've done from
a recruiting standpoint over the past few years where they obviously target, you know,
and get highly ranked guys and get a lot of them, and you
know, they get number one type recruiting classes. But it's very specific based
upon the character things and the human that you're talking about. And also think
about George's practices, like there's just mountains of scouts and coaches who talk about
the physicality of their practices. And thus, if you get a kid who's
been there for three years and survived and also then thrived in that environment,
you're getting a professional. And you're also, by the way, the biggest
thing that and this is something that goes untalked about, I think a lot,
but Kirby smart does this at least almost double digit times per practice is
harping on how hard you play on special teams. And last there was always
a special teams contributor those kids, Every single kid there knows exactly what the
NFL veteran minimum is for a specialty to be on special teams and play in
the league. Because Kirby wants kids who care about special teams as much as
he does because and you look across their roster, it's starters everywhere on special
teams. Well, Brent, we certainly appreciate the time Brent Rollins from UGA
sports dot com and via the X platform you can find Brent's work at Brent
Rollins p HD. Really appreciate the insight and continued good luck with the next
and next and next and next Georgia player that gets drafted. There's gonna be
a few more, not as many of this year as your past years.
But thank you very much for having me on BRIGID and I believe all total
last night if my math is correct, which if you've listened to enough Space
City Saturday, you know that math is not really my thing, but I
do my best. Uh. Four more Georgia players taken last night. As
we heard about Javon Bullard and that was something that you heard with him going
to the Green Bay Packers. Well, I think if you remember, and
we'll play the cut a little bit later on Kamari last with a great line
about not having the face CJ. Stroud anymore. Probably one of the best
football games, period that I've ever seen, was that Chick fil A Peach
Bowl a couple of years ago in Atlanta between Georgia and Ohio State. It
was the National Championship game. I mean I think we saw it. Sorry
TCU fans, I know there's a lot of frogs out there listening, but
what we saw at Sofi Stadium on that Monday night was not the game that
this one was in Atlanta for the semi final game. It was just a
shame honestly that. I mean, how much just amazing TV would that have
been in LA between Georgia and Ohio State for the national title game? Like
that would have been. I almost think it could have been pretty close to
what we still talk about to this day of USC in Texas and that two
thousand and five season, two thousand and six Rose Bowl that they had.
But still, you know, talking about the many players taken, well,
you know, we always like to do the total board, and every single
year it's the SEC and everyone else in terms of the total amount of picks.
But Pro Football Focused College PFF underscore college on Twitter a couple of hours
ago, most players selected by school right now, the ones with the most
well, oddly enough, they were the ones in the National Championship game here
in Houston last year, Michigan and Washington both with seven players a piece,
and the usual suspect there and tied for third right behind them Alabama, Florida
State, Georgia with all six apiece. Here's the one the fans of the
ones on the forty Acres, Texas with five. And that's actually gonna lead
me into the next segment, because coming up next, it's just another example
that the draft process is too darn long. And what happens we have too
much time on our hands, well, we start talking too much. We
will let you hear exactly what that means, and I'll react in much more
as we continue along here and close out our one of this edition of Space
City Saturday. I'm Dan Matthews with you here on your home of the Astros
and the Rockets, Sports Talk seven ninety, Space City Saturday on Sports Talk
seven ninety. I feel like this gave us hell, and yet I don't
remember him. I remember too many passed the drown and that the few that
really that we really just didn't really have a true answer for the quarterback home.
So that's one thing that I've susually remember from here. And we stripped
up there barely Gamari Lassiter, your newest Houston Texan. I guess third newest
Houston Texan if you want to be particular about it. Because after him at
number fifty nine, they go with Blake Fisher out of Notre Dame. And
also at number seventy eight, a trade. So Adam Wexler is right,
Nick Cassario trader, Nick, he trades up in the third round to go
get Kaylin Bullock out of USC. And it sounds like too, you know,
it's funny before we get to the draft process part of all this.
And by the way, too, I'm gonna go ahead. And you know
there's self reported violations in the nc DOUBLEA. You know that schools that have
like a minor recruiting violation, they tell the ncuble A, Hey, we
didn't know, we weren't supposed to give this recruit that we did that.
Uh, don't ding us too hard. That's why we're telling you. So
in this case right here, I'll call an error on myself. I will
say that I had a lax and lapse in judgment in coverage because I didn't
even throw out the phone number. Today, I'm surprised I hadn't gotten a
text from Chris Gordy. Of course, in my mind I would read it
like Gordy, no phone number, you know, don't out, you know,
come on man. So in this case right here, seven one,
three, two, five, seven ninety. You know a lot of people
want to react to the draft and be able to talk that. So we
will do that. We will continue that conversation all throughout the show. We'll
get into a little bit more astros next hour. But of course the Texan's
hot and heavy over there. But where I'm going with this is a lot
of times again, you know, that strong relationship that the head coach and
the GM have in the NFL is that there will be a pick or two
in the draft where the GM, you know, they're kind of going around
the room, all right, who do we like here? Who do we
want? All of those different types of things that they'll look to the head
coach and be like, all right, hey, this is you. Who
do you want? And I mean, just it sounds like and also to
the reaction of them making the move to go up and get Bullock, but
also too, I mean, some of the reactions I saw from the Texans
on Twitter sounds like Kayln Bullock was a Demiico Ryans pick like that that he
you know, you know, really did his you know, film study on
him, and you know, really just kind of did his his work on
him and said, you know that's a guy in my secondary I want.
So the Texans make that move, go up and get him. We'll let
you hear from Nick Casserio about, you know, the player that they're getting
out of USC a little bit later on. But we just heard Brent Rollins
talk about Kamari Laster. You just heard Laster right there, and again,
I mean, you know that game and I was talking about it kind of
got started talking about with Javon Bullard because remember in that game, it was
Javon Bullard's hit on Marvin Harrison Junior that knocked him out of the game,
concusted Marvin Harrison Junior, and of course Georgia able to come back and win
that one, as they were able to then finish the Drill and win the
national title that season. But Bullard was thought by many to be a possibility
for the Texans if he was still around there at number fifty nine, but
I believe it was right before them at fifty eight. The Green Bay Packers
saying yeah, we want him in our secondary, so the Packers. So
the Texans could not go two for two with Georgia players. But you know
a little bit more to on, you know what the Texans have been able
to add in terms of these three players. I mean, I will say
this, I'm a power five guy. I am a huge believer in adding
power five players. And also too, I mean for all the things we
heard of, not only with Nick Cassio what he said last night about building
the most competitive fifty three man roster as they can, I mean had a
chance a couple of weeks ago to ask Will Anderson Junior about you know,
players being added. And also too, I mean something he had said at
the end of the season where he had guys coming up to him on the
field saying, it looks like you guys have something special there, like that
looks like it's fun to be a part of. And he had a line
that really has stuck with me ever since. And we've heard Nick Cassio a
couple of times now say this where you know, not everybody is for us
and we're not for them, and you know this this is something that you
have to fully buy into and a credit goes to not only Tamiko Ryans and
Nick Cassario for building and fostering that culture inside that building, but also too,
I think a huge part of that is the guys that he added in
the draft last year. CJ. Stroud and Will Anderson Jr. What do
they have in common? They come from programs where championships are the only thing
that matters in those programs. At Ohio State, what are the two things
they care about the most? Beat Michigan and win a national title? And
I mean that's the expectation that Ryan Day and everybody up there at Ohio State
have to deal with every single year. And that's what Urban Meyer was able
to bring back there to Columbus Ohio and c J. Stroud knows that well,
and I think he was able to bring that mindset into the building.
And of course Will Anderson Junior when he was a part of that monster that
Nick Saban built in Tuscaloosa. I mean, I don't think it's a coincidence
that you added those guys and they were able to help with some of the
younger guys on this team. No, that's not how you do it.
Do it this way. This is what winning football looks like, you know,
it's it's the you know, you can either do it the right way
or you can do it the way that you're doing it. And I think
that that's something that these guys had brought into the fold. So it's been
absolutely fun to see here in this last year and a half of it,
just the mindset and also to the expectations not only in that building but outside
the building change seemingly overnight with what those guys have been able to bring.
And also too, I think you saw that kind of manifest itself in the
draft last night. You get Kamari Laster, a guy from a championship program,
and you know, it kind of even goes a little bit further as
well that I remember when I was covering Georgia that whenever Kirby Smart would talk
about his recruiting classes, he would talk about, we want team captains,
we want guys that played for state championships. We want guys who know what
a winning mindset looks like and what it is coming into this building. And
that's a reason why at Georgia, with you know, just the transfer portal,
everything that is now that they've been able to keep roster continuity pretty well,
because it's one of those things that they're able to go and get,
yes, four or five stars. You heard Brent Rollins talk about it there,
you know, in the segment before about you know, just how they're
able to keep that thing strong in Athens. And that's one of them is
that you know, a four or five star we'll get to campus there and
they'll tell them there's no guarantees, like you have to earn whatever playing time
you get on the field, and that only helps you when you get to
the next level. And you had a guy out of a program that has
such a strong culture already. Same deal with Blake Fisher at Notre Dame.
I mean, you play at Notre Dame, you are on national TV every
single game. You are in all intents and purposes for a lot of the
country that's that part of the country's team. I mean in the major cities,
Notre Dame is the college football program and they've got the deal with NBC,
and you know, people can say what they want in terms of,
you know, are they still a national powerhouse? All of those different types
of things, and those are the expectations you deal with there. Same deal
for Kaitlin Bullock at USC. I mean they are you know, the team
that everybody pays attention to out in southern California, And are you know,
are they what they were when Brian Kushing and Reggie Bush and Matt Liiner were
on campus there and Pete Carroll was the head coach. No, but it
doesn't mean that the expectations are any different in Southern California. They still they're
they're trying to get back into the national conversation of making the college football playoff
everything else of the sort. So those are things that Cayln Bullock has you
know, you know, already dealt with in college and now brings to the
Texans organization. We'll get to, you know, the the draft process and
everything. How long it is, you know, typical fashion. Sometimes I
get on a tangent going at one direction and sometimes unable to get you that.
So the top of the hour we will get you that because there's some
interesting audio that goes along with that. But let's get out to the phone
lines again. Someone three two, one two five, seven ninety al on
the south side wants to weigh in here on Sports Talk seven ninety al.
What's going on, buddy, Hey, what's going on, Dan, Yell?
I have great show. I appreciate, buddy. Okay, the fourth
round starts today eleven, right, Yeah, so here in a few minutes
they're gonna get going. Texans are a little bit later on. Okay,
are y'all gonna cover it or it's gonna be on ABC? I mean,
I think you know obviously the the TV coverage will be there, but I'll
be with you here until noon and then of course we'll be back with live
programming with Ross viller Real at four o'clock for Astros on deck. Okay,
I didn't know. I thought I've seen it coming on ABC at thirteen.
What pick we got in the four front? I am actually pulling that up
because I thought that's where you were going to go. Believe it is at
the later stage of the fourth round, as you know they are. I
want to say, like like fourth to last or fifth to last. It
is going to be a little bit of a wait for us. Okay,
So the player, Le'm gonna get your opinion on this. So the players
we picked up yesterday, uh four players, right? I think all on
a well, one on offensive line and the other ones was defense. Correct,
Yeah, so two defensive backs Bullock and Lassiter. Bullock is safety,
Laster a corner, probably gonna be a slot corner in the early stages of
his career, so probably playing the nickel spot. I know that Nick Casseio
threw that out last night, and Fisher, I mean, you know,
I agree with what Nick Cassario said, you can never have enough good offensive
tackles, and that is what he slates to be in the NFL. But
also two, I mean, you know, we talked about it last night
on the Draft Show, and I agree with wex. As of right now,
you probably have three of your starters in place in Laramie Tunsall, Titus
Howard, and also Shaq Mason, and we'll see what happens with center,
and we'll also see what happens with that left guard spot. So there's still
spots to be one on that offensive line. Yeah, that's what I was
looking and that yesterday. I've seen some players that I know. I think
the kool Aid dude went right before us New Orleans a green belt. Somebody
snatched good player. But sometimes the name on the jersey sometimes it be overhyped
a lot. But I was looking at it. I was reaching for a
D tackle just to get your pin and take on that. But then see,
I have to step back and realize the draft doesn't define the season,
meaning that you have players that's gonna get undrafted, You're gonna have players that's
not in the draft, and you're gonna have players that get cut. So
even with the D tackles, how do you if you was hw pathetically speaking
on how close or what you think about the speed of mama to going towards
the D tackle and I hang up this all right, appreciate the call.
You know, in terms of defensive tackle, there's still Makay Wingo out there,
Davis out of Clemson another one. You've also got Jalen CRUMMDY out of
Mississippi State, Jordan Jefferson out of LSU. So there are still plenty of
good players out there. Fabian love it. I mean if the Texans,
which by the way, to the Texan's going to be picking twenty seventh here
in the fourth round, so a little bit later on in this round,
as they will actually be eighth to last here in the fourth round, and
then they've got a couple of sevenths. I believe they don't have a fifth
I know that the breakdown was done last night by Nick Cassario, but still
plenty of players there, and we'll get into a little bit more of that
actually as we get into the eleven o'clock hour, and also to get you
a little bit of the point that I made about at least was setting up
about the draft process. We'll have all of that as we start to the
eleven o'clock hour. Now the fourth round underway from Detroit, we will continue
the draft conversation and much more right here on your home of the Astros and
the Rockets, Sports Talk seven ninety. Welcomebore, Welcome to another Space City
Saturday on Sports Talk seven ninety Dan Matthews Live and local h town breakdown of
the world that matters to you, the Houston sports world, all these great
Houston fans here. We love you all, So finish up on that to
do list. Flute up the cooler, because you can't drink in talk sports
all day if you don't start. Now bear me in the eight This is
Space City Saturday. That's insane. Here's seven nineties Dan Matthews. Anyway,
we go here in hour two of the show, as the fourth round under
way there in Detroit, so we'll keep you up to date on what is
going on there. The Carolina Panther is going to start things off, so
as we start to see some notable names come off the board, we will
keep you up to date on that. But since I missed on the last
one, I'll get to it here. So the draft process, you know,
we see from this season coming to an end there in January, and
then from January all until now. As you follow the process, this is
when guys leave their campuses, they start going to here or to Arizona,
California, Florida, Georgia, wherever it is, and start working out at
some of these major you know, kind of pheno draft preparation facilities. I
mean, you know, I know D one Sports is a huge one that
is used a lot by players as well as you know, many others plex
here in Houston area. Danny Arnold out there in the Sugarland area, he
has a lot of players that will go out there and get ready for the
draft there. But that's not the part that I'm talking about. The part
that I'm talking about is just all of that time that we have that three
and a half four months before we get to hear in the draft is a
lot of paralysis by analysis if we're just being honest, because it is,
you know, having an anonymous scout say, oh, this is a camp
mess prospect. If you pass on him, you're gonna regret it for years.
You don't hear those as much. You hear more often. And this
was something that I believe Nick Casserio was kind of hinting at last week,
and maybe that's kind of what the you know, voice of the frustration was
about things said by so called experts is the anonymous reports. And we had
one last year here in this very area of the S two test with CJ.
Stroud and oh, no player has ever had a successful career performing as
poorly on this test as he did. And then, if I'm not mistaken,
the S two test then came back and said, well, the results
were probably flawed. And basically you just kind of, you know, found
that that story was floated out there with really much validity to it, and
people got frustrated, of course about it, because well Stroud proved all of
that to be wrong because he went out and was unreal on the field and
all of those concerns were really just they were unwarranted and in this case right
here, Colts GM Chris Ballard talking with the media last night and the Colts
going with a pass rusher in the first round with Layoutu Latu out of UCLA
and of course the Lombardi Award winner as a first round pick for them.
And I said at the time when they made that pick, I said,
wow, how the tables have turned, because for years it was the Texans
with their draft picks of we we got to stop number eighteen. We've got
to be able to find a way to limit that guy who wears number eighteen
for the Colts, and at the time, of course Peyton Manning. And
that's why the Texans made a lot of the picks that they did at the
time, Brian Cushing, Connor, Barwin Brooks, reed, JJ Watts,
everybody of the sorts, and they were trying to bolster up their defense to
be able to try to counteract what they're doing there. Well, I think
that probably Chris Ballard and the crew there in Indianapolis with Law two saying we've
got to stop number seven now, and the shoe is on the other foot.
The Texans are the ones now that have teams coming after them with the
way that CJ. Shroud in the way that they played last year, and
they're the reigning champs of the AFC South. So now you've got them,
You've got Jacksonville, you've got Tennessee. Although Tennessee probably as compared to the
other two, probably a little further behind in terms of trying to get back
into contention, but that's still in play. Ady Mitchell, though, a
guy that we know well from the Four Bend area, went out to Georgia
late his first couple of years there and won national titles with the Dogs,
and then this past season decided to go to Texas, and I guess there
was an anonymous report out there about his character, and that was brought up
last night to colch GM Chris Ballard, and as you can hear in this
piece of audio, let's just say he was not very pleased. I mean
I read some of the that was set on tea. I mean, just
a typical e chose my language, our typical league un name sources, you
know, bad interview. That's such bod I mean it is it's like put
your name, like, put your name on it. I'm tired of we
tear these young men down. These are twenty one, twenty two young men.
And if you can, if people out there can tell me, they
don't they're perfect in their lives. It's cramp. It's cramp. This is
a good kid, and you know, for for that, for those forced
to come out, thank you know much. I said it last year.
It's it's bull. I'm sorry. I apologize for the language I don't but
I do, all right. So you heard his frustration there. And I
don't know exactly what the report is about Mitchell. I mean, I will
say this. When I was at Georgia, I don't think I ever talked
to a d Mitchell. You know. It's also too, you know,
a lot of programs will handle their players in different ways. In the case
of Georgia, most of the players we talked with we're part of the leadership
council and it's a very controlled environment in terms of freshmen don't talk. But
also too, you really only get access to a handful of players because it's
a you know, kind of a program that is a lot in the same
mold of what Nick Saban did at Alabama, and a lot of this comes
from Bill Parcells of that coaching tree of Bill Belichick. You know Nick Saban
as well as you know now Kirby is part of that, and you know
Jimbo Fisher part of that as well. Of you know, you want to
be the voice of the program, you being the head coach, and you
don't make assistance available other than the beginning of the season. You'll get the
offensive coordinator and the defensive coordinator to talk to the media. But aside from
that until you get to the bowl games. That is when you are able
to kind of open things up because a lot of the bowl games in postseason
games will open up locker rooms and also two media days they will make players
available. And that's usually as a media member when you go around and talk
to players and coaches you hadn't had a chance to talk to all season long.
But in this case right here, I never heard anything bad about Ady
Mitchell. And this is a situation here where yeah, I don't doubt that
maybe he had a bad interview, but it also too kind of goes to
what he talked about there twenty one to twenty two years old. Let's go
ahead and just take a little inventory here of any of us here in the
room at the moment. What were we like, at twenty one twenty two
years old, we were not a finished product, right, Like, we
were probably still making mistakes, still doing things in terms of that little thing
we call growing up and learning from those things. And I mean, if
that's you know, the only thing that really Ady Mitchell is responsible for,
then I'm not going to hold it against the guy. I mean, you
know, a bad interview, oh, you know, comes across as awkward,
whatever it might be. I'm just throwing those oas examples again, twenty
one to twenty two years old. Like, I think that we kind of
mistake, you know, a lot of exposure for these guys as to they're
ready and they're grown up already, when the truth of the matter is they're
just like any of us. And at that age we're still going through experiences,
still trying to learn, still trying to navigate how to become an adult.
And this process for a draft is all of those things. And I
don't doubt that some guys are not finished products. As a matter of fact,
I know that you know a lot of guys in terms of interview skills
and everything else of the sort, they're nowhere close. And sometimes that's a
choice of a player. Some guys just go ahead and look at it and
say, I don't want to focus on that. I don't care about that.
I want to play football and that's how I want to be able to
go about my business and everything else. Well, it kind of takes care
of itself. And in this case right here, I mean, you know,
we hear about character issues, and here's character issues for me. Do
they have a history of violence against others. I mean, that's a character
issue for me. You know, any other you know, involvements in crimes,
that's a character issue for me. I mean, if it's a guy
that, oh he's pretty quiet, Oh, you know, he doesn't say
much, he doesn't do much, all of these different types of things,
I'm just throwing those as examples, that's not a character issue for me.
Some guys again just want to you know, go about their business certain way.
Like I'll give you a good example here. Another guy that we just
saw go in the draft, brock Bowers. One of the worst interviews probably
that you can have is with brock Bowers. But also too, he's a
guy that straight up pretty much just says, I want to be a guy
known for my work on the field, Okay, that's fine. And I
mean if you're holding that against a player and saying, oh, well,
that's not going to translate to the next level, then you're kidding yourself because
it does not have a correlation between the two, you know, having a
bad interview or anything else of the sort. I mean, that's where I
think. If I'm a team and I am confident in my scouting and development,
and I'm confident in what I see on the film, that's what translates
for me. And obviously good on Chris Ballard and the Colts for not listening
to that outside noise. I mean, again getting back to Nick Casserio,
the noise outside the building. Well, I get that. I understand all
of that. And you know, it's kind of the old saying that Darryl
k Royle said. You know, you start to the fans. Soon enough,
you're sitting in the stands with them, and that's what you know,
strong programs and strong organizations. They say, hey, look, you know,
if we make a pick and fans don't like it, well, you
know, we're not doing this to make you one hundred percent happy, and
we're not doing this to necessarily anger you. We're doing this because we're trying
to build the best football team that we could build. And I mean you
turn on the film, you know, kind of the back of the you
know what in baseball that we hear Dana Brown and others in the ASTROS organization
say, well, the same translates here of what are we getting in a
player? And I talked about it last night with Mitchell. His best games
in college were in the largest games. I mean, he had a hell
of a catch for a touchdown against Alabama the National title game, a couple
of huge catches against Ohio State and TCU to help them win that one.
You know, big catches for Texas last year as well in helping them try
to get to Houston for the National championship game. And also too, they
felt so highly on the final play of the game against Washington they tried to
go to him in the end zone, although they broke the cardinal rule.
I think we all know. You know, I've talked about it before,
the rules on the side of the refrigerator. I've told you all about this
before. Well, here's another one that you can add to that notepad on
the side of the refrigerator. Don't ever roll to the short side of the
field the boundary, and try to make a play when you need a play,
use the field. I think we all know this at this point,
right. Nothing annoys me more than that, or trying to throw a fade
into the end zone because you put enough arrow into the football that fifty to
fifty ball becomes less of a fifty to fifty ball because now you're getting the
defensive back a chance to be able to try to make a play, and
sometimes the receiver is so good at being able to high point the football and
bring it down that it doesn't necessarily matter. But all of those other things
again, don't ever roll to the boundary when you really need a play.
So that's just one of those rules. And Texas fans probably agree with me
on that, because well, it didn't go their way and Washington ended up
moving on to play in the national title games. So that is what we
have from there. We'll wrap up the Texan Straft conversation here coming up in
the next segment because with last a few things to focus on with him,
but also to some of the other guys, kind of a what are we
getting with these three newest Texans. We'll discuss that as we continue along here
on Space City Saturday. If you want to weigh in, you can at
someone three two one two five, seven ninety. I'm Dan Matthews here on
your home with the Astros and the Rockets Sports Talk seven ninety. We now
return to Face City Saturday, Sports Talk seven ninety. Uh you know,
always looking at find you know, we're always looking to uh, you know,
find ways to help the you know, the boys next to me,
the guys next to me. And then on top of that, you know,
just finish, you know, I think that's the biggest thing, just
finishing the second newest Houston Texan, Blake Fisher offensive tackle out of Notre Dame
with the media last night on zoom as. You can find that conversation as
well as Kamari Laster and Kaylen Bullock on Sports Talk seven ninety dot com.
We posted those up there, so you want to go get to know your
newest Houston Texans. That is where you can go. Get you a little
bit more on Laster, Fisher in Bullock here in just a second. But
as I mentioned, the fourth round is underway. We are four picks in
to the fourth round and a heavy Texas flavor. The Brian Lilima wants to
chime in here, all right, buddy, Well, you know we'll give
you a chance here a little bit later on No Love Love Lo Loo.
He's the best, Saulisbury Tripoli, the whole crew in the mornings. But
I digress anyway. The first four picks, three out of the four from
Texas School's JT. Sanders, wondering if maybe the Texans had a chance at
him. Well, they decide not, as we'll see if they go for
a tight end. I know that WEX has thrown out a possibility of Kate
Stover out of Ohio State. You know it's one of those. I mean
heard c J. Stroud the other day talking with Micah Parsons and the crew
on Bleacher Report when he was upset to see Ricky Piersoll go to San Francisco.
But not only that, he had mentioned about we'll get a receiver or
in this case right here, you know, kind of like I was talking
about, sometimes you do a pick for the head coach. Well, when
you got a quarterback like c J. Stroud, I wouldn't be surprised if
you know, you get to a situation today where Nick Casario brings up the
phone and calls CJ and says, hey, what do you think about Kate
Stover. So we'll see if the Texans go that route. But we're twenty
three picks away from the Texans being on the clock here in round four.
But J. T. Sanders going one on one overall first pick of the
fourth round to the Carolina Panthers. Tony Franklin receive out of Oregon. A
lot of people high on him, but he slips to day three. The
Denver Broncos go up and get him at one O two Leyden Robinson, an
offensive guard out of Texas A and M. He goes third in this round
to the New England Patriots. And Dadreon Taylor Demerson out of out of Texas
Tech, a safety going to the Arizona Cardinals. And the picks continuing at
to roll in. So we'll keep an eye on the draft as we continue
to roll along here on Space City Saturday. Dan Matthews here with you.
If you want to weigh in, you can at sebone three two one two
five seven ninety. Once again, that's seven one three two one two five
seven nine zero. As for the players at the Texans added, I mean
we heard Brent Rollins with us last night on the Draft Show. Again,
if you miss that or the replay of it here on the show, Sports
Talk seven ninety dot com is where you can catch that. But a few
things about Rollins. Number one, I thought it was excuse me about Laster
that Rollins had mentioned, and I'll piggyback off of, you know, the
thing with him of being a versatile player in terms of he can play the
boundary, he can play the field, and also too, he could play
the slot. I mean, there was that game last year against Missouri that
Georgia had to grind out and try to beat Eli Drinkwotz's team, and they
were able to do that, and they had to put him in the slot
to cover Luthor Burden, and he was able to shut down Luthor Burden in
that game. I mean, he's got experience going up against Milik Neighbors too.
I was talking with my buddy Cole Thompson of USA Today last night about
you know what Laster has been able to do, and he was able to
hold Milik Neighbors in check in that game and able to help Georgia win that
SEC championship game against LSU. A couple of years ago, so he has
experience going up against the best the best in college and not only that as
well, I mean playing those other corner spots and the slot corner, which
you heard Brent say that probably that is where he's going to translate here in
the early going, as the Texans also to have quite a competition there at
the other corner spots opposite Derek Stingley. I mean, it was nice to
see a healthier Derek Stingley last year on the field and probably realized some of
those expectations that he had coming into the league and able to show. And
you know also too, I mean it always happens whenever there's a comparable player
in the draft and said comparable player is doing well, is earlier on in
the season and earlier on in his career. You know, you were able
to get better play out of the opposite corner from Derek Stingley. But you
know here at the same time too as well. I mean, once healthy,
he was able to you know, get his career on track and able
to put together a huge performance later on in the season. But Sauce Gardner
was the other player that I was trying to think of. But you know,
Stingley now showing to be one of the better young corners in the game,
and he was able to show that last season, so it was great
to see out of him. But also too, I mean, this is
a very important part of your defense now. I mean everybody looks at pass
rush and being stout up front is incredibly important and that's something that Demiko Ryans
knows. That's a huge reason why Deniko Autry is now here and why Daniel
Hunter is now here and what Will Anderson Junior were able to do last season.
But the secondary as well is a part of this team that I'm sure
it's Demiko Ryans and Nick Cassario met during this draft process of them going through
and saying that part has to improve if we're going to improve as a football
team. And that is a huge area focus for the Texans so far to
this point of two of the three picks that they've made this year are in
said secondary. So adding Kamari Laster and you know his versatility that he brings
also to Brent's Wright. Kirby Smart does use starters on special teams and that
is a part of it that you know you're on the field, you're not
coming off the field, and that is something else that he brings. And
I know Nick Cassario talked about it last night of what he brings from a
special teams perspective, and Cassio said straight up, he goes, you're either
a starter on offense, you're a starter on defense, or you're on the
kick team on special teams, and we use more defensive guys on special teams
then we use offensive guys. And that's something you see around the league and
that is something else that he brings. But the other part as well.
I like the line that Cassario said last night about Kamari Laster linebacker mentality,
and that is a benchmark of the Georgia program. You're physical or you don't
play. I mean, there is no middle ground there. You're either physical
or you're not on the field. And if you don't like to tackle,
if you don't like to play in the box, all those different types of
things, then you are going to not find very much playing time. And
that is something that he brings on the field. He's a thumper in terms
of how he attacks the ball carrier and also too, you know the part
that people are focusing on the lack of interception numbers, all of those things.
I don't find that to be necessarily something that tells me if a guy
is going to be good or not. I think a lot of times it
is. The stats are easy to look at, and the stats are easy
to point to as for why this player is going to work or why they're
not going to work. But with Lassiter, from what I saw again,
I talked about it what he was trusted with in terms of his defensive responsibilities.
Luther Burden a guy who's gonna make a lot of money in this league.
Malik Neighbors, a guy who was one of the first, if not
he was the second receiver taken in this draft by the New York Giants after
the Arizona Cardinals went with Marvin Harrison Junior. But I mean a guy that
is going to be counted on to make significant plays in this league. And
that was Kamari Laster's responsibility. So that's what you get from him. With
Fisher, a true tackle and somebody who was the left tackle at Notre Dame
before he got hurt, and Joe Alt came onto the scene, and once
Alt was able to take over that left tackle spot, he did not move
off that spot. And Notre Dame. You know, at certain schools,
what are they known for. I mean, everybody looks at LSU as in
the past they were known as DBU. Now I would probably say they're wide
receiver. You at LSU, you know Georgia, what are they known for?
Strong linebacker play, good defensive line play, and also to standout defensive
back play. I think that's something that you can point to with that program
defensive backs out of Alabama. You feel like if you're getting a defensive back
who played for Nick Saban, you're getting a guy who's ready for the league.
I mean, you know we've seen it. You know, where do
quarterbacks come from, Where do receivers come from? Where do running backs come
from? All of those different types of programs. And Notre Dame is a
program that's known for producing really good offensive lineman. Jared Patterson, who the
Texans have, he is one that fits that profile. And also too,
I mean we've seen it around the league. Quintin Nelson, you know,
Mike McGlinchey, and now I mean Notre Dame with this most recent draft class
they've had of having Joe Alt and now Blake Fisher coming out of that program,
and you know, it's kind of one of those things expectations of programs.
You play offensive line at Notre Dame, you are going to be expected
to play at a high level and be able to put yourself in position to
try to make the league. And that's what Fisher is able to bring with
a bullock. I mean, you know, you heard Nick Cassario say it
last night. Probably his best football is still in front of him. A
guy who was a converted wide receiver who played receiver in high school and had
a good line too. Last night, he was asked on the Zoom Call,
I believe by Kim Davis about his first love in the game was receiver.
But he started going to some of these you know, rivals twenty four
to seven camps that were out there and noticed that there were not a ton
of kids in the lines to get reps at defensive back and said, well,
you know, I could stand in this line that has everybody in it
for receiver, or I could go try to get better as a defensive back.
And that's where that spark kind of ignited for him to get his career
going and becoming a standout defensive back. There where he played some corner at
USC but also to a guy that kind of the opposite of Lasseter in terms
of the interception numbers, because he's got those, but also to a guy
that you know, some of those Feast or Famine defensive backs out there,
that you know, you have the strong interception numbers, but also too at
the same time, you're also susceptible to sometimes the fifty to fifty ball not
going your direction and an exposive play can be made, and that's something that's
you know, on his resume as well, is something that they're going to
obviously try to work with him on as he gets in the building over there
on Kirby and tries to become a strong NFL player, but probably a little
bit more of a raw talent than what you get out of Laster and out
of Fishers. So that's kind of a quick breakdown of who the Texans have
been able to pick up. But I mean, it's amazing that we're here
on the home of the Astros and the Rockets and we have not gotten to
the Astros just yet. But that is going to change coming up in the
next segment, because yesterday on the A team, we had our weekly visit
with Jeff Blum. We'll get you a little bit of that visit where if
you missed it, you can go to Sports Talk seven ninety dot com or
also to download the iHeartRadio app and be able to catch that full visit there.
But we'll have a little bit of that as we get you ready for
the Astros and the Rockies, the Mexico City Series starting today there in Mexico.
So we'll get you set up for all of that and much more.
Jeff Blum. Hear from him next right here on Space City Saturday. It's
Dan Matthews here on your home of the Astros and the Rockets. Sports Talk
seven ninety. Space City Saturday continues fine Sports Talk seven ninety another twenty minutes
or so, seeing some more players coming off the board. Justin and Boigbee,
the defensive tackle out of Alabama going fifth in the fourth round to the
LA Chargers. Brandon Dorles going from Oregon to the Atlanta Falcons there in the
fourth round. Cheez, what a draft for them. Huh. Do you
want to talk about having some serious questions about what teams are doing? Well,
that would be one of them. But we're on here in Houston we're
not on anywhere else, so we focus on the Texans as we are about
eighteen picks away from the Texans making their fourth round pick at number twenty seven.
So if we get to it here on the show, we will let
you know that. If not. Sports Talk seven ninety dot com is the
way that you can catch up with that. All right, yesterday on the
A team, speaking of the Astros, they get ready to take on the
Colorado Rockies in Mexico City. Again, Astros on deck coming your way four
o'clock, Rossville, Reale, gonna be getting you ready for the Stros and
the Rockies. Stros trying to break a four game losing streak, and we
have said that way too much this season. Stros at seven and nineteen on
the year, still a long way to go. But here is part of
our conversation yesterday with Plumber right here on your home of the Astros Sports Talk
seven ninety. Hopefully you do get a couple of wins there, not just
one. I need to sweep for this to be a successful trip. Is
that too much to ask in light of what's happening in all aspects of this
Astros team right now? Yeah? I mean I'm always gonna be the eternal
optimist, just because I understand how hard this game is and I also understand
how good this this ball club can be. So here's the sales pitches.
Ronel Blanco showed me something to that last start. He kind of battled through
lack of command, really didn't have the fast all he wanted, but still
worked a very good curveball, slider, change up mix. And that changeup
has been fantastic for him. He's a beast, he's a horse, he's
got broad shoulders. I think he can go out there and compete. I
also think that he understands that he's pitching well and the team needs him to
pitch well, and he's going to go out there and do great against this
Rocky lineup. And then you are going to see this Astros lineup take advantage
of you know, Cal Quantrel and some of the pitchers coming out of that
bullpen for the Rockies. And then you have the return of fromer Valdez,
who's ground ball ray in a high outitude ballpark could prove to be beneficial keeping
that ball out of the air. So I think Farmer is going to be
great. It's going to be a good series. And I know that we
all want the Astros to be in first place, but I think if we're
able to salvage a couple of wins here in Mexico before we start the month
of May, would actually do a lot of these guys psyche and get things
going for the rest of the season. Hopefully. We're handling the tenth inning
show after the afternoon game yesterday and a caller was wondering how you reward Alex
Bregman's poor start with a bump up in the order. As I explained to
him, it clearly is not a reward, but much like what's been happening
over the last several years, there are opportunities in between or in front of
certain other hitters in your order you'd like to see. Maybe this can't help
a player, and that's where Alex Bregman is now. He's batting second behind
Jose Altuve, in front of Alvarez and Tucker. Two parts to this,
do you think this is something they might just go ahead and stick with for
a bit, unless I guess Bregman does absolutely nothing. And secondly, do
you think this might ultimately actually help the guy who was hitting second ord On
just in a terms of being comfortable, probably seeing a lot more pitches before
his first at bat than he had been seeing batting second behind mister ambush Jose
Altuve. It's interesting because you know what, you know, watching your Don's
routine over the years, he likes to, you know, get as close
as he possibly can in that on deck circle and kind of track the picture
and see what they're doing and get a better a better visual on the ball
out of the hand, and also get some really good timing make sure he
gets that foot down and he's ready to smash. And I do think that,
you know, hitting in that third fourth spot, I think you know,
your Don's a power guy, He's an RBI guy. He takes a
lot of pride in those opportunities. So I do think that he is comfortable,
you know, kind of relaxing and having that picture throw several pitches before
he steps into the box, because you're right, josel two Bay can ambush
and swing at the first pitch and all of a sudden, you barely get
your bangles on and you're standing in the box and you take a couple of
pitches and you're down on two that you know, that's that's part the part
of the issue that could happen. But I do think that Joe might stick
with Alex Bregman in that two hole. To your point, Wex, So
I'm saying, you know, Josel Twovey is obviously a threat this season at
the top of the every season, at the top of the lineup, with
the way he's swinging the bat, So there's going to be a lot of
intensity and focus on the first hit of the game, and then Alex can
go ahead and do his work and not be you know, not be relied
on to be able to drive in runs like he was being expected to in
that four spot, and he wasn't doing it. So the idea was,
if he's not driving in runs, we'll put him in the two spot.
Let him have is you know, let him put together some good at mats.
Hopefully he takes his walks and gets base hits and gets on base in
front of the thunder of Alvarez and Tucker and the offense starts to go a
little bit. I definitely do think that's the idea because having youord On Albarez
hitting behind you will either lend itself to getting on base or seeing some better
pitches because they're trying to get let you get, you know, get yourself
out, and we'll just have to wait and see what happens, because once
that month turns to May is usually when Alex turns it on. But a
couple more days in April, I said this before they went on their eight
game trip. There are two games remaining, and they're there in Mexico City.
Alex Bregman would return to Houston with a home run. He's not yet
hit one this year. Do you think this statement will be proven true?
After Saturday and Sunday's game, at least one of the five Astros who have
not yet homer this season will change that over the next two days. John
Singleton, Jose Bray, You, Chaz McCormick, Alex Bregman, and Greg
Cassinger. At least one of them will homer over the next two days,
starting tomorrow. Yeah, it's going to be Braggy. Braggy's going to be
my first guy, and then I think if I had to pick a backup,
it would be Oh Man, I wish I'd want to say Chaz,
but some of the swings I've seen haven't really kind of dictated that he's going
to be able to elevate the ball in these circumstances. But I think Alex
Bregman at least gets you one in the next two days for sure. How
far dos Jordan hit one there? Oh? Man, I can't wait to
see that. I hope that they've got somebody that throws one hundred miles an
hour in their bullpen and then he challenges them and she just squares it up
because I want to see it. The one word that I love is malevolence,
and I haven't seen an act of malevolence this season, and I want
to see some serious anger and you know, pent up aggression in some of
these swings. And if Jordon's able to go out there and clip one,
I would imagine it's going to get close to five hundred feet in this altitude.
I cannot wait. Well, they should just come to my house during
some of these losses and they can just bottle some of that malevolence because it'll
be there for you. Hey, Blummer, we appreciate the time, especially
on your birthday, have a happy one, and of course, as always,
we appreciate the people who make it possible for your weekly visits. Yeah,
I always appreciate the witzed Vision Group Jeff Witzit over there does a very
good job, and their mission is to go out there and provide the highest
quality of comprehensive eye care from technical, surgical, clinical personal perspectives. So
they all of their patients are going to be treated professionally and caringly in a
very friendly manner. And of course they specialize in lasik and cataract surgery.
And on the other hand, low T Center, you know, I champion
them because they go in there and make me feel like I'm a warrior coming
out of there and ready to go. The energy is there, the to
recover from some of my workouts is there, and of course you know time
is of the essence, and getting in there in ten fifteen minutes, getting
my low te shot and getting out of there with great people is what it's
all about. So go to low Tcenter dot com and check them out,
and of course there will be many a taco and many a surveys of being
had receiving in preparation for tomorrow's game. Looking forward to it, Have fun
there south of the border, and look forward to catching up with you when
you get back to the States. Happy birthday, Thanks Ellos I appreciate you,
thanks for having me on. Absolutely. Jeff Blum here on Sports Talk
seven ninety live and in living color from Mexico. All right, Jeff Blum,
so of many of the things that we can react to in terms of
what is needed for this Astro team talked about a little bit at the beginning
of the show. If you're listening, well then you'll probably know the answer
on this test. But in this case right here, it comes down to
one group and one group only. We will talk about that as we close
out. Close us out with some Astros conversation here on Space City Saturday.
Dan Matthews here with you on your home of the Astros and the Rockets Sports
Talk seven ninety Welcome back to Space City Saturday on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Hey, Dan Matthews here with you for about another ten minutes or so as
again Astros and the Rockies from Mexico City, the Mexico City Series. We've
heard from Jeff Blum there on the A Team yesterday, and part of what
he talked about was part of what I talked about at the beginning of the
show. Is the Astros if they are going to climb their way out of
this it's going to come down to one group, and one group in particular,
hitters have to hit. I mean that is the long and short of
it, from beginning to the end. And this last week, I mean
not even close. The only thing that you could point to possibly and it
was still a winnable game was Wednesday in Chicago against Jameis and ty Own.
And you know, it was another day where you found yourself down early,
but two at the same time. I mean, over the course of one
sixty two you have to be able to come back and win some of those
games too as well, and the Astros had every single opportunity to be able
to do that, and the hitters yet again not coming through. I mean,
how many times this season have we seen runners in the scoring position for
Jose al Tuove or for Alex Bregman, or for Jianor Diaz and it's goose
eggs. It's nothing. And that's what the Astros have a scene for the
better part of these twenty six games. And if you want the next twenty
six and the twenty six after that and on down the line to get any
better, well that has to get better. Because I talked about it.
The only runs batted in this year with runners in the scoring position for Jose
al Tuove two Saturdays ago, maybe even three now, but it was you
know, two weekends ago against the Rangers and that Saturday game where he had
a two run double. I mean, that's what you need to see out
of him. Kyle Tucker the same deal. You need to see that out
of him. Jordon Alvarez the same deal. You need to see that out
of him. I mean, you know, talked about Chas McCormick as well.
He has struggled here in the early going, and that's part of it
as well. You know, we focus on the front of the order for
the Astros, but the problem has also been I mean the guys in the
back end of the order. I mean, I understand what the situation is
at first base with Jose A. Bray you but at the same time though
too as well, Chas McCormick not done enough. Janer Diaz with runners in
scoring position has been almost non existent. I mean last year we talked about
it all the time of the injuries the Astros had by Jose al Tuove and
by Jordon Alvarez, and you were able to get good contributions out of Mauricio
Dubon. I mean, if it's not a runner in scoring position situation for
Maricio Dubon, he has struggled at the plate and that has to improve.
McCormick. I mean, a guy when you had some of those injuries last
year and he needed somebody to step up he did in this season, he's
not been great. And I mean, you know, we can talk about
the pitcher is all we want the back end of the bullpen. Yes,
it's been disappointing in terms of what you've been able to get as a you
know, overall workload and production from Brian A. Bray, you from Ryan
Presley and from also Josh Hater, but two at the same time. I
mean, you haven't necessarily given Josh Hater regular work because you're not in the
lead for most of these games. So his routine probably thrown off a little
bit. But I get it though too, and he would tell you that
whenever I'm out there, I need to get the outs and I need to
close out that game. Same deal with Ryan Presley as well. So I'm
not, you know, necessarily absolving them of blame. But it's also too
I mean, you know, when you're in those high leverage situations. Regularity
is huge in order to be able to ensure strong results from being put in
those spots, and we have not seen that. But two at the same
time, I mean, I mean, you know how many times have we
looked at an Astros game and said, that's not enough runs. You need
to add on, you need to add insurance. And they just have not
been able to do that. And until that gets better, this team will
continue to struggle. And it's been frustrating the watch. And you know,
it's also too you know, things that are correctible, because what's correctable about
this hit the ball, and not only hit the ball, but you've got
runners on base. I don't need singles, I need doubles. I need
extra base hits. I need, you know, being able to keep the
line moving that way. I need the huge hit. We have not,
really, for the most part this season, seen that. And you know,
we've seen spurts here and there. The Blue Jays series that was nice,
the Rangers series, that was nice. But the team's success was going
to be predicated on how well they hit the baseball this year, and that
has not happened. And it's been frankly incredibly disappointing to watch this season from
this group because that was coming into this I remember when we had channeler Rome
outside a Minute Made Park before opening Day against the Yankees, and I mean
exactly what he said was true. If this team hits, they'll be in
position. If they don't, well, then we're looking at what we're looking
at right now. Because that's really been the long and short of it.
So the video I put out earlier in the week where I said, you
know, the answer is pitching, the answer is hitting. The answer is
yes, to some part it is. But I would say the overwhelming majority
of the issues with this team this year they have not hit the baseball and
they've not hit it meaningfully in what I mean again, runners in the scoring
position, and not only with runners in the scoring position, guys on base,
not just a single to score one run. You're gonna need crooked numbers
in these innings. You're gonna need three, four, five runs. And
I understand a major league baseball that's a tall ask. But if you're going
to try to get on a run here, the bats have to heat up
for them to get that opportunity to do that. And it's almost to a
point right now, where the Astros have been so good for so long that
it doesn't necessarily matter who's in the opposing dugout. It comes down to them,
and to some case it still is because that has been really all of
these nineteen losses this year. They've been because of what the Astros did not
do. They didn't get the out, they walked a guy, you know,
and then the other team was able to hit the three run homer or
do whatever to get the lead and keep the lead. And that's the other
part of it as well, circling back to the hitting. I mean,
you got to see this team come back in the seventh, eighth, ninth
inning in a game. I understand that you're facing their better pitchers. I
get all of that. I understand it. But two at the same time,
if you're going to turn this thing around, you have to be able
to turn that trend around. What was it last Saturday, thirty eight to
five being outscored after the seventh inning, now nineteen to three in the ninth
inning. I mean, numbers like that are why you're a seven to nineteen
baseball team and not any better than you are right now. And they've had
winnable games that they've none been able to close out, and I think that
if nothing else, hopefully again, you know, we've been attaching hopefully a
lot to this season, but hopefully this series against the Rockies is a chance
for them to turn it around, because if not, I mean, this
is going to finally become a mental block of this is who we are and
this is what we're going to be, and it becomes a long season at
that point, and the Astros have an opportunity to make sure it becomes less
of a long season by hitting the baseball and being able to put your position,
you know, your players in positions where they're not having to guard against
one run leads and you know, having to you know, for themselves out
there, because I think that probably is kind of permeated to the pitching staff
as well. I got to make the perfect pitch here because I don't know
if they're going to be able to bring me back in this one. So
this pitch is incredibly important. And I think that it's hard to play the
game that way, and that's the way that they've been playing it for some
time. Well. I think Melvin and am back in the studio for keeping
us on the air and making us sound great. Great job by those guys.
Want to thank all of you out there for listening to us here on
Space City Saturday. You got Ross Villarriale coming up again four o'clock with Astros
on deck to get you ready for the Astros and Rockies a little bit later
on. Until next time, This is Dan Matthews has been Space City Saturday
on your home of the Astros and the Rockets Sports Talk seven ninety